Double Olives and Chocolate Sprinkle
by aretsuna
Summary: Jemma Simmons goes to the same restaurant at least twice every week and if you ask her, it has everything to do with the delicious, healthy food; her waiter is just a (very) nice addition. But today she made a promise to a kid and now she must ask her waiter a very important question. One that's not about food at all. [Fitzsimmons Secret Santa Exchange]
1. The restaurant

"Please? Pretty please? Pretty, pretty, please?"

Jemma couldn't fight those cute, puppy eyes aimed straight at her. Who could?

"I will, Thea, just give me a second," she promised, and stole a glance to her left, at the centre of the restaurant.

"But we've been here for an hour already." The little girl pouted, her ponytails swinging when she shook her head. "He will bring us dessert soon! Just ask him!"

"It's not so easy," Jemma murmured, and eyed the plates in front of them. Hers was almost empty, since she tended to eat while stressed, but the other one still had a lot of green stuff on it. "Eat your veggies," she pointed at them.

"They are not for eating, they are for decoration," Thea pleaded but Jemma only shook her head. "Just ask, he's nice, he won't shout at you," the girl mumbled staking a carrot with her fork.

Jemma sighed and eyed the waiter again.

They moved into this city two months ago, when Jemma got a new job in a local research facility. It was a huge step in her career, something she was hoping for for years. What she hadn't counted on, was that they would have to move in spring, so she had to put Thea in a new kindergarten in the middle of academic year, when kids knew each other well and it was hard for her to acclimate and form new relationships with others. If that was not enough, Jemma had so much work with getting to know her new workplace and starting her project that she didn't have as much time as she wished. That's why they tended to eat out, looking for a nice place with good food. They found Mack's Kitchen on their third week, when Thea was snivelling about being the last one to be picked for teams during PE. They went for dinner to a new place, ordered some soup and chicken with rice and she let the girl pick whatever she liked. Of course, what she liked turned out to be half of the dessert card, but they reached the compromise of pizza and two desserts. Still, Thea remained sad and Jemma had no idea what else she could do to cheer her up. Repeating that "kids are mean" didn't seem to help much and she couldn't let her eat anymore sweets. That was when _The Waiter_ came in, calling Thea "Princess", telling jokes and funny stories about monkeys from the local zoo (that he recommended they visit) and if that wasn't enough, he brought her pizza with red pepper arranged to look like a princess with a crown of yellow peppers and little monkeys around her made of mushrooms. This, along with a big glass of coke they didn't order, finally made the girl laugh. The whole way home Thea was babbling about him, his nice voice with an accent and how much she liked the food, pleading to go to the zoo he mentioned and making Jemma wish that her companion was much older than five years old, so she could tell Thea a few things about the handsome Scot too. Next time they went there, Thea was telling him in detail what she'd seen last Sunday on their trip to the zoo, and he was not only patiently listening, but also smiling and asking questions until he was called back by his boss.

Jemma took Thea to this restaurant twice each week now, just after picking her up from school, and they always had a pleasant chat with the waiter. Somehow their desserts always ended with double whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, and her Greek salad always had so many more olives since she mentioned them being her favourites.

After all this time, all she knew about the waiter was his first name written on his nametag - Leo.

"He's coming, he's coming!" Thea hissed with excitement. "Ask him!"

Jemma shushed her, putting her hair behind her ear and trying to look occupied with her plate and watch him coming closer at the same time.

"Your desserts," he said in a nice, soft voice with his strong rolling "r".

After putting the plates with ice creams on the table he reached for her plate and her eyes became glued to his nice hands and the lean muscles of his forearms. Forcing herself to tear her eyes away and glance up a little bit, she saw Thea's nagging stare.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, and she nodded, trying to avoid their eyes and reaching for her spoon. She tried not to notice Thea's disappointment when he walked away.

"Maybe it's better," the little girl mumbled after a moment of silence. "He wouldn't want to anyway, nobody would want to." She pouted.

Jemma felt a sting of guilt and took a shaky breath. This wasn't about her. This was about Thea, and she should just grit her teeth and do it, even if it was slightly embarrassing.

"I'll be back in a moment," she said while putting her spoon down and rising from her chair.

A few determined steps and she was in the middle of the restaurant, standing in front of a surprised (and a little confused) Leo.

"How can I help you?" he asked immediately in nice voice.

"Well, uhm, I'm not really sure how to say it…" Jemma started uncertainly, putting some rebellious curls of hair behind her ear.

"There was something wrong with your order?" He furrowed his brows with sudden concern. "You didn't like the food?"

"No, no it was delicious," she assured him. "We really enjoyed it, and the meat was well baked and the vegetables are so fresh and this dressing, I really loved it-" She rambled, not able to stop, lost in the blue sky of his stare.

"Medium steak!" came a voice from behind the door that probably led to the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry," he apologised in a rush, taking a step away from her. "I have to go." He pointed at the door and she just nodded. "I'll come back to your table in a moment," he promised and walked away.

"Sure, it's , uhm, nothing important," she murmured. She couldn't bring herself to turn and face Thea though. What would she sayl? That they have to come here **again** because she, her legal guardian who was supposed to take care of her, couldn't ask a simple question? _Again_ _?_ Even though she promised she would, and spent an hour and a half trying to prepare, waiting for a perfect moment?

Looking back at the girl, Jemma felt sting of shame when she saw that Thea wasn't even looking at her anymore, just sitting there on her chair, head bowed down and spoon wandering aimlessly around her plate.

Jemma took a deep breath. Leo was cute and handsome and had a lovely voice, not to mention his incredible smile; that was all true. In normal circumstances she would just keep coming to this place two or more times a week, ordering a regular and trying to figure out how to flirt with him, wondering if he's really smiling at _her_ or just at another _customer_. Maybe after a few months she would bring herself to ask him a few vague questions, test the waters, hoping that something would somehow happen without her actually making a move and embarrassing herself. Maybe he would be the one to finally take a hint. But the circumstances weren't normal, and she promised a young girl that she would ask; she couldn't be a coward and disappoint her. Embarrassing or not, she would just ask. He would say "no" and think she's a creep and a weirdo and she would never ever _ever_ show her face around this place again, but at least she wouldn't break her promise.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she looked around. _Ok, first thing first, stop standing here,_ she told herself. _Go after him and just ask. NOW. You've got two PhDs Jemma, you can do this._

The first step was always the hardest, they said, but for her each and every next one was just as hard. _Come on, it's just a question, no big deal. Don't fret over it so much._

Another step and she was next to the door. _Don't let the "personnel only" sign stop you now,_ she fought over her hesitation. _Nobody stopped you yet, just do this._

Her hand was slightly trembling when she reached for the door knob, but before she managed to touch it the door swung open, her waiter standing there with a tray full of meals and drinks.

"Oh." He took a startled step back, plates and glasses clanging.

"I'm sorry, I have to ask." She tried to explain herself and kick herself at the same time. "It's important after all…"

 _Breath. It's fine. It's not like it's a first time for him, he won't be surprised, I bet he gets hit on daily with this lovely accent and scruff and eyes and stop checking him out already and use your words girl!_

"Is that the double olives and chocolate sprinkle girl?" asked someone from inside the kitchen.

"Leave it Hunter!" Leo hissed into the room with a warning in his voice and looked at her with apologising eyes.

"What's your name?" She finally blurted her question.

"My name?" He asked in surprise and looked at his uniform with a silver nametag.

"Yes. I mean, full name," she added and furrowed her brows, noticing that it wasn't really an explanation. "I need it to put in-"

"You want to write a complaint?" He asked, terrified.

"What?! No, no, of course not!" She shook her head. _Why is it so complicated? Why are you making it complicated Jemma?_ "No, it's about, uhm, Thea," She waved at the girl sitting by their table. "Her birthday is in two weeks and she… well, she really likes you, since you're really good with her. We, uhm, moved here not so long ago and she - it's been a little hard for her and she still doesn't have many friends here. Anyway, it's really important to her, and she wanted to invite you to her birthday party; it would be really nice if you could drop by." She stopped to take a breath and noticed his surprised expression. "B-but you really don't have to, that's understandable, of course, we're both aware that you have better things to do and… and more significant people to meet, but I still need your name to put on an invitation, she wants to give it to you and ask herself so…" she stopped her rambling, looking at him anxiously.

 _And here comes the part when he calls you a stalker and asks for restrain order…_

"Yeah, okay," he said instead.

"Yeah?" She furrowed her brows not following completely.

"Yeah, I'd love to come."

"Oh," she whispered, surprised that he agreed so fast and didn't know what to say for a moment.

He apparently misread her reaction because now _he_ started rambling.

"I mean not love exactly, but I couldn't say no to her… Not that I'd want to say no, it sounds like fun and she's a nice girl... kid I mean, nice kid and you're a nice girl and-" He finally noticed her smile and took a breath, combing his hand through his curly hair. "Yeah, I'd gladly come, is what I meant." He sighed.

"That's great." She beamed at him, still a little shocked with how easy it went. "That's really nice, but I still need your full name for the invitation."

"Oh. It's Fitz," he introduced himself, reaching his hand to her, demonstrating some really incredible balancing with the other one, that was still holding the tray. "Leopold Fitz, but call me Fitz, everyone does."

"Jemma Simmons," she shook his hand with a smile. "And over there sits Thea Hartley," she said, waving in the general direction of her table. "That I really shouldn't be leaving alone for so long," she added and took a step back, her hand slipping away from his.

He just nodded in understanding, putting his hand back on his tray.

"We will drop by with the invitation some time soon," she added.

"You know where to find me." He smiled.

* * *

Thea was so excited that she couldn't wait for their next standard visit in three days, and instead forced Jemma to take her to the restaurant the next day, just to give the invitation and ask if he would want to come.

Fitz smiled at her brightly, like he just heard he won the lottery and assured her that he couldn't wait.

* * *

 **A/N:**

This is my Fitzsimmons Secret Santa Exchange gift for hawwkgirl. The prompt for this story was "You're the person that always serves me and my young kid's food and you always are so good with my kid and I'm really sorry and you don't have to accept but my kid wants to invite you to their birthday party". And me and hawwkgirl both agreed that Fitz should be the "serving" one. I had lots of fun with it, I hope the result brought you all joy as well ;)

Thanks to amandajbruce for beta reading!


	2. The garden

"You're sure about it, Mack?" Fitz took another plate from Hunter's hand and put it on a tray he was holding.

"Yes, I'm sure, it starts at 3pm, that means no tie man." His boss rolled his eyes from where he was standing, viewing the kitchen. "You can put a blazer on if it makes you feel more confident, but don't overdress."

"Yeah, mate. Leave something to do a level up when you finally ask her out." Hunter pointed, adding some vegetables to the next plate he was preparing. "I'd advise something different than a restaurant, you know, for a _change_."

Fitz just shot him a glare and turned back to Mack.

"Seriously, relax Turbo," he joked. "Just go there and make it worth all those extra olives I had to pay for." He winked at him when Fitz took his tray, now with a full meal on it. "Ten minutes left of your shift; just try not to faint when you're carrying my food and plates."

Fitz looked at the clock and nodded, trying to calm his nerves. The whole day he was torn between thoughts pushing him to put even more effort into the meeting, and suddenwaves of panic telling him that he misread everything and there was nothing more in this whole situation, absolutely nothing to look forward to, just him going to make a complete fool of himself. He took a deep breath and walked to the kitchen's door. It shouldn't be that hard; he just had to go there, do his best and see what would come out if it.

Worst came to worst, he could just go there, spend the necessary time at the place, and then run away.

* * *

The first thing Fitz noticed when he entered the garden was that he didn't get lost. One success already - that was definitely the place where the party was held if all the balloons were a hint. The second thing was that he was not overdressed. There were absolutely no ties in sight and he silently thanked Mack for not only letting him take a morning shift on that day, but also checking his wardrobe choices. The third thing he noticed was that there were indeed not many children around.

"You came!" Jemma greeted him with too much surprise to his liking. Was he not expected to come after all? _Or maybe she didn't fully agree with the idea of inviting a random guy for a party, but didn't want to disappoint Thea_ , whispered his insecurity. He could always count on that one to crawl into his mind at the worst possible moment.

"Of course I did, I told you I would." His smile was a little wavering, but he tried his best. "I wasn't sure what the appropriate gift was for this occasion..." Fitz awkwardly waved his gift, wrapped as neatly as his trembling with excitement hands allowed, to show it to her.

"Oh, you didn't have to, really," she assured him, instinctively reaching for it.

"Don't get so excited, it's for Thea," he joked, and immediately regretted it when he realised how bad it sounded.

Jemma apparently had a different opinion, because she laughed and it pulled a huge grin to his face.

"She's over there." She motioned at him to follow her to the middle of the garden where a small group of kids were sitting by the table full of sweets, flowers and paper decorations. "But I bet she's going to be so happy to see you've come."

Taking the opportunity, he looked around to notice that the garden was small and a little wild, but really cozy. It was surrounded by a hedge that ensured some privacy from prying neighbour's eyes. There was a swing and some garden chairs, a few trees, and green grass everywhere. All in all it looked like it was not used much, but well prepared for a celebration.

"Thea!" Jemma called the girl sitting by the table in a light dress and a shiny crown in her curled hair. "Look who just came."

"Hello, Princess," he greeted her, bending to her level with a smile. "I brought you something since it's the most special day of the year..." Thea squealed with happiness at the sight of him, rushing from her chair. To his surprise, instead of reaching for her gift she went for a hug. He awkwardly patted her back, trying to look casual and not make her feel rejected because of his slight confusion. "Happy Birthday, Thea."

"I knew you would come!"

"Of course I did," he assured her, realising that Jemma must have warned the girl to not get her hopes up. He must admit bitterly that it made sense, they didn't really knew each other after all. She had no idea of knowing that he treated this whole thing seriously; he never gave her a reason to believe that and really, as far as she knew, he could be a jerk. It was quite brave of both Thea and her to let a complete stranger in. He awkwardly pat Thea's back again, promising himself that no matter what, he wouldn't let anyone ruin this day for them.

"Thea look what Fitz brought you," Jemma said while gently pulling the girl by her arm.

Fitz smiled and put the wrapped package in the child's hands. She tore the paper to see a book full of stories about monkeys with beautiful watercolour illustrations and gasped in awe.

"What do we say when we receive a gift, Thea?" Jemma reminded her.

"Thank you, it's wonderful!" The girl breathed, and gave him another hug before runningn back to other kids in the next second, to show them all what she just got.

"I'm sorry about her; she still doesn't have many friends here, that makes her more... touchy-feely with those few people that show her sympathy. I'll talk with her about it tomorrow."

"No, that's fine, nothing to apologise for, really." He shook his head while standing up. "It's nice she's so open. Most of the kids I see are too timid to even make a sound when I approach their table."

"She's not always this open, especially not with kids at school," Jemma sighed. "I wish I could help her make friends, but I just don't know how. But enough complaining. Would you like to eat something?" She pointed at the other table where there were some light snacks.

"Sure." He nodded and followed her, trying to think of something to say. "So, you mentioned that you two moved recently?" He tried with something safe first.

"Yes, we moved two months ago, when I got a job at the university."

"And, uhm, Thea's father didn't mind? You taking her all the way here?" He asked, and wanted to kick himself in an instant for it. _Smooth, Fitz. Really smooth,_ he scolded himself. _Now she certainly knows you're into her. What will it be next, taking her hand and examining it to check if she has a wedding band?_

"Oh, he has no idea."

"Wha- you run away or something?!" He asked with surprise.

"No, of course not!" She huffed and stopped suddenly, and threw him an uncertain look. "It's… well." She stuttered as if trying to decide whether or not to share a secret with him. "Thea's not my daughter," she explained in a low voice. "I adopted her after her mother, who was my cousin, died three years ago. Izzy refused to tell us anything about the father except the fact that he left them after she'd told him she was pregnant…" She trailed off, as if not sure what else to say and waiting for his answer, but he couldn't find any, not when they were suddenly on this very serious ground. "I mean," she rushed when he remained silent. "I figured I'd tell you since, uhm, you asked. Well, not specifically _asked,_ not about exactly this, but, that's just how it is… with Thea and me..."

"That's great," he blurted before he could bite his tongue. "I mean terrible! Not great at all. Poor Thea. But you're a great guardian and you're doing great taking care of her. That's all I meant."

"I'm trying." She smiled, clearly pleased with his compliment and acceptance.

He smiled right back because the view was simply astonishing.

* * *

The party wasn't a blast, which was not surprising given that it was meant for children. Still, the food was delicious and people from the Sky Full of Daisies company did great with decorating the place and entertaining the youngest guests. The owner, a chatty brunette who managed to ask him about everything from his job to his favourite season in a few minutes, really had a talent for event planning. While it wasn't the best party in Fitz's life, he had a lot of fun, spend a long while talking with Jemma about her work and his plans to open his own garage, and met a few interesting people with whom he had brief but pleasant chats.

Fitz stayed until the very end, and spent the last half an hour trying to figure if he could ask Jemma out now, at the party, or maybe if he should wait until she came to Mack's Kitchen, but then, again, he would be at work and not able to actually do much. Not that it was a given that she _would come_ again; maybe she would change her mind or try avoiding him… So he should probably use his chance right now, forget _if he should_ ask and focus on _how_ _to do this._ Now, when the party was still running? Was it okay to ask when the place was full of her colleagues and their children? It wasn't exactly giving them any privacy. What should he say? Just go with the question, or start with some more small talk, change the topic subtly? Or maybe drop a few hints first? It was important; he did so surprisingly well by now, he didn't want to blow it at the end.

"Thank you again for coming." Jemma smiled at him while coming closer, and he understood that now was the moment to decide.

 _To ask or not to ask_ , this was the real question, and he looked around in search for some answers, or at least something that would help him prolong the deciding moment before he would pass the point of no return. His eyes caught the sight of a woman, a tall blonde that he talked with before, who was pushing Thea on the swing, both with huge smiles on their faces.

"Bobbi is your friend?" He asked for some insane reason before it occurred to him that it would be an awful opening, if the disappointment that immediately painted all over Jemma's face was any indication.

"Yes," she admitted, and looked at the other woman, avoiding his eyes at the same time. "Bobbi works in Thea's kindergarten as a nurse. She's really nice and friendly, always found a moment to come to us for a chat. We realised that we have a lot in common and became friends quickly. That's actually her house." Jemma waved around them at the garden and the building behind it. "We live in a small flat on the other side of the city. There wouldn't be enough space for throwing a party there, so she proposed that we use her place…"

"I see." He nodded, cutting in, and took a deep breath, scratching his neck with his fingertips to busy them with something and stop their slight trembling. "So… If you were to go somewhere in the evening, Bobbi wouldn't mind replacing you at taking care of Thea for a while?" He was the one avoiding her eyes now, while trying to sound nonchalant, but his hands were restless, absorbed with smoothing his blazer.

"Probably." She smiled at him. "Why are you asking?"

"Just wondering..." He looked at her. "What would you say if I asked you to dinner next Saturday? Or a movie if you're tired of seeing me in a restaurant," he added, remembering Hunter's advice.

Jemma's face brightened with a happy smile, the one whose light burned right into his memory, along with the slight nods she was giving him.

"I'd love to," she finally answered, using her voice instead of eyes sparkling with joy and agreement.

"That's great," he murmured, smiling like a fool and unable to tear his eyes away from her. "That's really great."

It took them a moment, to be able to leave the spot where they were both standing, lost in the tiny world of their stares, but soon Jemma hesitantly went back to say her farewells to other guests, looking back at him over her shoulder every now and then and sending him another subtle, and a little shy, smile. He went to say goodbye to Thea, also stealing glances at her guardian. When he couldn't find any more reasons to prolong his stay, he found Jemma by the gate and thanked her again for the invitation. Not able to idly stare at another one of her pretty smiles, he looked around, and glad to not find anyone interested in their part of the garden, he threw all caution to the wind and quickly pecked her cheek with a light ghost of a kiss.

"I'll pick you up at 6, okay?" He asked, and she just nodded enthusiastically.

He grinned and turned to leave.

"Wait!" He heard after taking only a few steps, and after a second she caught his hand. He turned back with slight surprise.

"You don't know my home address," she breathed, looking for something in her cardigan pockets.

"You're right." He chuckled when she took out a piece of paper and a short pencil to scribble something on it.

"Wouldn't want you to ask out Bobbi instead," she mumbled and pushed the piece of paper into his hand. "Here."

"Thanks. 6 o'clock, Saturday." He winked.

"Don't make me wait any longer." She smiled.

* * *

 **A/N:**

I didn't really feel like making "Jemma as a widow/divorcee with a kid" because then I would have to cast the role of a father (and who would I cast hmm? I doubt we want another triangle), plus I had a feeling that she would be a little awkward with kids, and so we have the adoption. Thea is named after Thea Queen from Arrow, because 1) she had a really messed up family situation and could use a nice guardian like Jemma 2) I like her hair so why not :) It was quite challenging for me to write a kid so just don't ask me how old is she. She's as old as she needs to be and as young as she needs to be, okay?

Small addition: there's a deleted scene, a photoset and a movie-like cover for this fic posted on my tumblr if anyone's interested.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!


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